SEATTLE – The UT Arlington men's basketball team wraps up its 2022-23 regular season on Friday, Mar. 3, at 9 p.m. Central (7 local Pacific) against Seattle U as the Mavericks will be in search of their 800th all-time win.
 

GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Game 31	UT Arlington (11-19, 6-11 WAC) @ Seattle U (19-11, 10-7 WAC)
Date | Time	Friday, Mar. 3 | 9 p.m. CST (7 PST)
Location	Redhawk Center (999)
Video	ESPN+
Audio	620 AM | Varsity Network App
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Game Notes	UT Arlington | Seattle U

OPENING TIP(s)

• UTA is coming off a 78-59 loss at Utah Valley on Wednesday in a game that was just a 47-44 margin with less than 12 minutes to play. That victory moved UVU to 14-3 in the WAC and clinched a share of the regular-season title. The road doesn't get much easier for the Mavs as Seattle U sits at 10-7 in the league. Ten of UTA's 18 conference games this season will have come against the top-6 teams in the WAC – two each versus SU, UVU, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, and one against Southern Utah and Grand Canyon.
   
• Despite possessing just eight overall Division-I wins this season, three of those are NET Quad 2 triumphs for the Mavs – at San Francisco, versus Sam Houston and at Stephen F. Austin – which is a single-season program record. UTA has the most Quad 2 wins but fewest overall victories in the nation. Additionally, the only team in the country with more Quad 2 wins that has a losing record is Ohio State with four (13-17 overall).
   
• UTA's three Quad 2 victories are tied for the most of any team in the WAC (Utah Valley), and also more than Iowa State, Texas Tech, Syracuse, Florida, LSU, Florida State and several other Power-5 teams. Seattle U would have likely been another Quad 2 opportunity for the Mavs if the Redhawks had not lost at Utah Tech on Wednesday, but instead it is currently a Quad 3 game.
   
• UTA has scored 70 or more points three times since interim head coach Royce Johnson took over five games ago. Prior to that, the Mavs had scored at least 70 points against a D-I team just once all season (85 vs. UT Rio Grande Valley on Jan. 19). Additionally, UTA has made double-figure 3-pointers in four of those five games Johnson has overseen; prior to that, the Mavs reached the threshold just once all year versus a D-I foe (11 vs. UTRGV).
   
• Fueling that 3-point emergence is Brandyn Talbot, who over his past five games has made 14 3-pointers (11 in the past three games). In his first 20 games against D-I competition this year he made a total of 15.
   
• Chendall Weaver has won a league-most four WAC Freshman of the Week honors this year, and all four have come in the last eight opportunities (Jan. 9, Jan. 23, Feb. 6, Feb. 20). Weaver leads all WAC freshmen by a wide margin nearly every statistical category except assists and blocks (and he's 2nd in both of those). California Baptist's Taran Armstrong holds the WAC record for Freshman of the Week honors with five set last year. In total, UTA has a conference-high five Freshman of the Week recognitions this season thanks to Brandon Walker collecting the designation on Dec. 5.
   
• The Mavs rank 14th in the nation in offensive rebounding at 12.8 per game. Shemar Wilson is leading the charge as the sophomore is 8th nationally with 3.6 offensive rebounds an outing. He has registered three games of 8+ offensive boards this year – tied for the 3rd most in the country against D-I opponents (leaders: four games).
   
• Wilson (10.9 PPG (2nd to Kyron Gibson's 11.0) and 7.8 RPG (1st on the team)) has not played in UTA's last six games, and he remains questionable for Friday's contest with a hip injury. Wilson is responsible for five of UTA's six double-doubles this year, which are tied for the 4th most in the WAC.

TWEETABLES

1) UTA has only attempted 12 free throws over the past two games combined (five vs. Utah Tech and seven at Utah Valley). The Mavs had attempted double-figure free throws in every game prior this season.
 
2) After starting WAC play 0-5, UTA is 6-6 in its last 12 league games, and four of those losses have been by 10 points or less. UTA began February ranked #293 in the NET, but has moved up nearly 50 spots to #245.
 
3) The Mavs have alternated losses and wins for the last nine games: L, W, L, W, L, W, L, W, L. UTA needs a win to avoid posting its fewest conference victories in a season since going 4-14 in the 1993-94 Southland Conference slate.
 
4) Kyron Gibson leads UTA in scoring this season (11.0), but in five of UTA's eight D-I victories he has finished in single digits.
 
5) After connecting at just 26.4 percent from 3-point range against non-conference D-I opponents, UTA is shooting 36.1 percent in WAC play, keyed by Talbot (23.5 to 44.7), Weaver (20.0 to 43.5), Aaron Cash (38.7 to 42.6) and Gibson (36.4 to 38.8).

ABOUT THE MATCHUP

• Seattle U is coming off a surprising 93-56 loss at Utah Tech on Wednesday as the Trailblazers – who just fell at UTA on Saturday on an overtime buzzer-beater, 71-69 – raced out to a 56-30 halftime lead and never looked back.
   
• SU attempts the 12th-most 3-pointers in the nation (27.4 per game) and makes 8.6 per outing to rank 56th.
   
• Cameron Tyson has attempted the 5th-most 3-pointers in the country, and his 3.1 3-pointers made average ranks 17th.
   
• In the first meeting between UTA and SU this year, the Redhawks shot 53.8 percent (28-52) from the floor – at the time the highest percentage the Mavs had allowed any opponent to shoot all season.
   
• SU won a share of the WAC regular-season championship last year.
   
• The Redhawk Center is the 3rd-smallest D-I gym in the nation with a capacity of just 999. It trails only USC Upstate (878) and Charleston Southern (881).

WAC STANDINGS
Click Here To View The Updated WAC Standings

New Mexico State has suspended the remainder of its season (more information click here), meaning that the remaining 12 teams have qualified for the WAC Tournament. The résumé-seeding system will now be used to determine how teams are seeded at the WAC Tournament (denoted by WAC Points in this link; higher point total = a better seed).
 
For example, right now even though Utah Valley is in 1st place, Sam Houston would actually be the #1 seed due to accumulating 6.73 points compared with 6.57 for UVU. Additionally, despite sitting alone in 10th place, UTA would be the #12 seed as a result of having the fewest points (-4.75).
 
The WAC has sent at least two teams to the NCAA Tournament in 28 of the past 46 seasons. In an effort to continue enhancing its at-large prospects and rewarding the best teams throughout the entire season, the résumé-seeding system was introduced.
 
It is an algorithm that rates performances against all D-I teams faced in the regular season, not just conference play. Teams receive more credit for scheduling, and beating, stronger opponents than weaker ones – particularly on the road. This should help WAC members have higher NET rankings, a key-criteria used by the NCAA Selection Committee.

INSIDE THE DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORERS

The Mavs have had 11 different players reach double-figure points in a game this year (national leaders: 13), and also have had eight different leading scorers – the 3rd most in the nation behind only James Madison and Longwood with nine each.
 
Below is a list of those double-figure players, their respective season highs and how many times they have led UTA in scoring:
 
Kyron Gibson: 22 (11x – Includes 3 Ties)
Chendall Weaver: 21 (6x)
Aaron Cash: 20 (5x – Includes 4 Ties)
Taj Anderson: 19 (1x)
Shemar Wilson: 18 (5x – Includes 1 Tie)
Marion Humphrey: 17 (4x – Includes 2 Ties)
Brandon Walker: 17 (2x – Includes 1 Tie)
Brandyn Talbot: 15 (1x)
Pedro Castro: 14
Montez Young Jr.: 14
Dario Domingos: 12

BY THE NUMBERS

1: UTA is just one win shy of 800 all-time program victories. The Mavs are in their 64th season, with UTA's inaugural campaign taking place in 1959-60.
 
1: Interim head coach 'Snoop' Johnson picked up his first-career win at the collegiate level in just his second game when the Mavs claimed a 75-70 Quad 2 victory at SFA on Feb. 18.
 
1: UTA secured a 60-56 win over Horizon League preseason favorite Northern Kentucky on Nov. 22. NKU had defeated Cincinnati – picked to finish 3rd in the American Athletic Conference – two games prior by 13 points.
 
2: UTA notched its second road win of the season over a 2022 NCAA Tournament team when the Mavs took down New Mexico State, 66-55, on Jan. 14. The first came on Dec. 19 at San Francisco, 68-63.
 
3: UTA delivered season highs against a D-I opponent in three categories in an 85-73 win over UTRGV on Jan. 19: points (85), 3-pointers made (11, tied) and assists (26).
 
5: The Mavs posted an overtime buzzer-beating 71-69 victory against Utah Tech on Feb. 25 as Aaron Cash delivered the game-winning tip-in as time expired. The Mavs won the game despite attempting just five free throws (4-5) – becoming just the 10th team in the nation since 2010 to win an overtime game when attempting five or fewer free throws.
 
7: UTA has had seven different occasions of a player grabbing 7+ offensive rebounds in a game this year: Wilson versus Hardin-Simmons (7), Nevada (7), Howard Payne (7), North Texas (8), Stephen F. Austin (8) and Utah Valley (8); Dario Domingos against Northern Kentucky (7).
 
8: Against UNT on Dec. 6, Wilson grabbed eight rebounds, and all of them were offensive. Over the last 6+ seasons – since the start of the 2016-17 campaign – he is one of only seven players nationally to secure at least eight offensive rebounds and zero defensive boards in a game.
 
10: Marion Humphrey had six steals against Southwestern on Nov. 12 to tie for the 10th most in single game program history.
 
11: The WAC is currently rated as the 11th-best conference (out of 32) in the country.
 
12: Gibson passed out a season-best 12 assists versus UTRGV on Jan. 19, representing the most helpers by any WAC player in a game this year against a D-I opponent.
 
14: UTA has used 14 different starting lineups this season, including seven in the last 10 games.
 
16: UTA's wire-to-wire win at San Francisco ended the Dons' 16-game home non-conference winning streak and was the Mavs' first NET Quad 2 or better non-conference win since an 89-75 victory at BYU (Quad 1) in November of 2017. Two days later, USF defeated then-#25 Arizona State, 97-60.
 
26: The 26 assists UTA issued against UTRGV were the most at home against a D-I foe in nearly six years – since the Mavs passed out 27 on Jan. 23, 2017, versus Louisiana.
 
27: UTA is the least experienced team in the WAC and 27th nationally (337th of 363) this year based off prior D-I playing experience with an average of just 0.91 years per player.
 
50: UTA allowed three-straight opponents from Jan. 19-25 to shoot at least 50 percent from the floor for the first time since 2008.
 
55: The 55 points UTA limited New Mexico State to represented just the second time in the last six seasons that the Mavs have held an opponent to 55 or fewer points on the road (52 at Arkansas State on Jan. 2, 2020). Prior to that, the last time the Mavs did it was on Dec. 16, 2016, when they permitted Bradley to score just 51.
 
86: The 86 points UTA allowed in an 86-76 loss to Southern Utah on Feb. 23 were the most it has surrendered this season, and also represented just the second time since 2015 that the Mavs permitted an opponent to score 86+ in a home regulation affair (91-86 win over Louisiana on Jan. 15, 2021).

NEXT UP

The Mavs will remain in the Pacific timezone and fly directly to Las Vegas on Saturday to begin preparations for the WAC Tournament, which for UTA will commence with a First Round matchup on Tuesday, Mar. 7.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
For updates, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more engaging and personal content, be sure to follow the men's basketball program on Twitter (@UTAMavsMBB), Instagram (@UTAMavsMBB) and Facebook (/UTAMavsMBB).